Easter Traditions

Happy Easter to you and yours!

As I sit here thinking about Easter, it makes me think of traditions. Now I gotta tell ya. I don't love the whole "Easter Bunny" aspect of the holiday. I don't have anything against Peter Cottontail. Sure, I love chocolate. But we don't go overboard in filling the baskets with more stuff.I prefer to focus on family, "renewal" and the spirit of the season.

Easter Sunday is always a special day at church. We dress in our Sunday best.

My cute fam, 2011 - Carrie & Taylor Keele with Braden (then 5) and Bree (then 11)

Probably one of my favorite things about the holiday is spending time with extended family. We usually rotate whether we spend the holiday with my side or hubby's. Stories are, food is enjoyed (usually ham and au gratin potatoes). Kids play while the grownups lounge. We will often do an Easter egg hunt.

I'm hiding, I'm hiding but no one knows where ...

My sister's & my kids getting ready for the hunt, 2010 (Tyler, Braden, Tannon, Tracen, Bree and TJ, L to R)

When we spend the weekend with Taylor's family, we keep a lot of the same traditions but add in "egg rolling". The first time we did this, I thought it was such a wacky thing! You take your hard boiled/colored eggs to the top of the hill. Count to 3, let them go. First one to the bottom is the winner!

I couldn't find my own picture, but here's an idea of what it looks like.

I couldn't imagine where this egg rolling tradition started. All I knew is that it is something they always did and had been for generations. Thank goodness for Google & Wiki (remember when we used to look things up in the encyclopedia?) According to Wikipedia:

In England, Germany and other countries children traditionally rolled eggs down hillsides at Easter this may have become symbolic of the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ’s tomb before his resurrection.

Interesting. So there is a reason to ruin those beautifully handcrafted eggs (once they make it to the bottom of the hill, they are pretty much goners.) What are your family's Easter traditions? And have you ever egg rolled (Chinese take-out doesn't count!)

Carrie Keele
(a.k.a. "DearMYRTLE's daughter)
www.NotYourMothersGenealogy.com